Roughly 826,000 people had their phones stolen last year, according to the Office of National Statistics.
The Office for National Statistics released its Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) which showed about two per cent of mobile phone owners experienced theft in the past 12 months.
This was an estimated 826,000 people, compared with 759,000 in 2009/2010 and 908,000 in 2008/2009.
While this two per cent was roughly consistent since the 2005/2006 survey when the question was first introduced, there was an increase in mobile phone ownership over this period which meant the two per cent was a small increase.
Those who had their phones stolen were likely to be children aged 14 to 17 years old or adults aged 18 to 24 years old, with the rate being around four per cent (twice as high as the average).
The highest risk group was women aged 18 to 24 years old, with one in twenty the victim of theft in the last year.
45 million mobile phone owners
It’s important to note the ONS doesn’t differentiate between ‘smartphone’ and ‘mobile phone’ on the survey, to keep wording consistent since 2005/2006.
According to the survey, 81 per cent of residents in England and Wales owned a mobile phone, equivalent to 45 million people, in 2011/2012, compared with 39.3 million in 2005/2006.
The number of male and female owners were roughly equivalent, at 22.2 million males and 22.8 million females, and the highest levels of mobile phone ownership were amoung 18 to 44 year olds at 98 per cent, which is not really a surprise (that’s a big age range).
Seven per cent of children under 10 years old owned a mobile phone (what!) and 58 per cent of those aged 75 or older were owned a mobile, the least likely group to own mobiles among adults. The latter, however, was up from 35 per cent in 2005/2006.
Teenagers and young adults most likely to have phone stolen
The survey showed that teenagers and young adult owners were more likely than any other age group to have had their phone stolen in the past 12 months, with four in 100 mobile phone owners aged 14 to 24 a victim of phone theft in the past year.
It was a combination of high rates of ownership and high rates of theft that meant young people made up a disproportionate share of mobile phone theft victims, the ONS said.
While phone theft victims among male and female owners in the past year were similar, at 1.8 and 1.9 per cent respectively (translating to about 397,000 male victims and 429,000 female victims), differentiating by both age and sex showed that among younger age groups, boys were at more risk of theft, with boys aged 10 to 13 at higher risk than girls of the same age.
Women 18-24 highest risk group for mobile phone theft
However among 18 to 24 year olds, women were at more risk, with 5.2 per cent of women having their phone stolen in the last year compared with three per cent of men. This meant women aged 18 to 24 were at the highest risk of mobile phone theft, ONS said, with one in 20 experiencing a theft in the past year.
For adults aged 25 and older, there was no statistically significant difference between men and women in risk of mobile phone theft, ONS said.
Bad news if you’re 16 or older, and single, since you’re most likely to experience a mobile phone theft at 3.1 per cent compared with all other types of marital status; and adults who were married were least likely to experience mobile phone theft at 0.8 per cent, although the ONS said this was likely due to the age profile of groups, since single adults would be more likely to have a younger age profile etc.
Crime
While mobile phone theft remains a small fraction of overall ‘acquisitive crime’, or crime where something of value is likely to be taken, it has risen since 2010/2011, from 378,000 instances to 525,000 in the past year.
The ONS noted that both use and sales of smartphones increased in 2012, and that stolen smartphones had higher resale values than standard phones as well as personal data.
“Although it is not possible to tell from the CSEW data, it may be that smartphones are driving the latest increases seen in mobile phone theft incidents.”
Watch out on the bus – and during the weekends
Seven in 10 incidents were personal thefts, and more specifically theft from a person, where a phone was taken without force, for instance pick pocketing, with about a third, or 25 per cent of thefts taking place on public transport or in another public place, and 31 per cent occurring on the street.
Four in 10 incidents, or 39 per cent, were ‘other personal thefts’ where the phone was not in the owner’s possession at the time it was stolen, with 31 per cent taking place on public transport or in a public place and 30 per cent in a bar, pub or club.
More than half, of 52 per cent, of thefts which occurred from a person (ie robbery) took place during the week, with 48 per cent during the weekend, which was a high rate of incidents relatively compared with the week; so, as we mostly knew, you’re more likely to be a victim of mobile phone theft during the weekend.
